Warmth
by Ryu1284
Summary: After a brush with death Asuna is left gripped with fear. Scared at how close she came to the end Kirito hopes to comfort her in the only way he can think of.
1. Chapter 1: Warmth

**So while trying to improve my creative writing I decided to make this short piece. Not sure if it's any good but hopefully it'll invoke some kind of reaction from people. (hoping for a positive one!)**

 **Also just a quick heads up before you read it, don't expect it to really go anywhere. It focuses quite heavily on the thoughts and feelings of Kirito and Asuna, so yeah… enjoy.**

 **(Updated - 19/09/2018)**

* * *

Fear, fear gripped Asuna as her rapier slipped unceremoniously from her loose hand. That had been close, the closest yet. Her first real experience of what it was like to play the line between life and death and if she was to be honest, it wasn't an enjoyable one. She was once again partnered up with Kirito, something that had become the norm after their partnership during the first floor boss raid. They had been out exploring the fields and forests of the newest floor, a routine they had done plenty of times before and one that generally didn't result in any trouble as on most occasions they were over leveled for the area. This time however, it had been different.

Somewhere along the way they had been separated, both individually enthralled in their own battles and as such had lost site of the other. Before she even had the time to acknowledge it Asuna had become entangled in a battle for survival, the one she was just now coming to feel the effects of.

Not seconds after the last of her aggressors had been defeated did Kirito came leaping through one of the clearings, his breathing an uneven and ragged pace. An indication that he too had been in a similar fight himself and upon dealing with his adversary's had come running. Having entered the area in a dazed state his eyes shot about the place searching for something, whether it be more mobs or his partner. Asuna herself felt unsure, her chest beginning to tighten and constrict. With what though? She did not know.

Soon enough their eyes made contact, fear, elation, uneasiness. Both parties reflected equal parts the same and the feelings shared were mutual. Taking in the full view of Asuna, her ragged breathing, her unsteady posture and apparent unfocused gaze Kirito came to a decision and within a matter of moments made his resolve. Walking slowly at first, still unsure of himself and not entirely convinced that what he was doing was the right or even proper thing to do. Moving closer though, seemed to help boost his own confidence. Something that Asuna could clearly see reflected in his eyes. While they had been filled with unease and uncertainty at first they now clearly showed that his decisions had been decided on.

What happened next, Asuna could only describe as, unexpected? No that wasn't right it would be more unexpected if it hadn't come to this. Then what, was it unwelcome? Unwanted? Something she herself didn't like? No, that wasn't it either. Thankfully she didn't have to wait long for her answer as Kirito's arms made their way around her, pulling her towards his own body. The surprise only lasted a few seconds, surprise at something that she had never experienced before and something that left her unable to it hit her, that was it. Surprise, surprise at the realization that this was something she had never experienced before and something that she had been missing out on.

It wasn't like she wouldn't have had any opportunities, most children shared hugs with their parents, a way of saying I love you, I care about you and want to keep you safe. But then again her family wasn't like most others. Now that wasn't to say that she was any less loved by her parents than any other children her age when she was growing up. Her mother and for the lesser part her father had both been busy with work, which while it had afforded her the comfortable and stable lifestyle she had become so accustomed to. It had also meant that the time in her life where this would have been most likely to take place, it hadn't.

With this in mind Asuna took this experience as something new, perhaps something she should be wary of. But then all of that extra fear and unease was quickly cast aside as her own body came to rest alongside Kirito's. To her this was… nice. Just nice? She questioned herself, no that wasn't right. This was something she had wanted, something she had needed not only because of this death game she was trapped in, but in spite of it. For the longest time she had felt something was missing, there was something she needed but wasn't aware of. Thankfully the light embrace she was receiving from Kirito had given her a clear answer, warmth. It had been warmth that she had been missing, in every sense of the word.

The warmth that came from security, being told that everything would be ok, you would be safe and you didn't need to worry about anything and ultimately the warmth of another person. It wasn't as if she was some sort of social outcast, she had made her fair share of friends. There had even been the rare occurrence of some semblance of love between parent and child on the odd occasion when they had shared a family meal, or done something together as a family. But none of that compared to actually having something done so directly, almost as if she was clearly being told that. No, I do care about you despite what you may think and I want to show you that. I want to show you that if you ever need support I'll be there and if you ever need a shoulder to rest on, then use mine.

With such thoughts consuming her mind Asuna made her own decision on the situation. Coming to the conclusion that yes, yes this was most definitely something she had not only needed but also something that she wanted. As if to prove this her own arms moved around Kirito's neck, pulling herself closer in the process. As luck would have it Asuna's height was perfect when compared to his, allowing her to place her head perfectly in the crux of his neck. While also allowing her the freedom to rub against it in hopes that she would be able to get just that little bit closer.

For his part Kirito reacted as any teenage male of a similar age would, that being with a mixture of delight and astonishment. Yes, he had in fact decided that the best course of action to not only calm Asuna down, but also show how important she was to him was to give her a simple hug. But that was the point where his clear plan of attack turned into a scrambled offensive. Sure he had been given hugs and returned a number of his own while growing up, after all that's what kids did when they were younger though most of them were between him and Suguha. But unlike this time that had been between him and a close family member, as well as many years ago and long before he had begun to take any for of interest in girls.

As such once he had made the resolve to share a hug with Asuna and followed through on said resolve, he was unsure of what to do next. Was he meant to move his hands? Rub her back to help calm her down? That was something they usually did in movies right? Then again he didn't want to come off as someone who was taking advantage of the situation just to cop a feel. So what about talking? He could do talking, you just needed to open your mouth and let the words come out, easy. At least it should be, unfortunately it was around this time that Asuna had made her move. Pulling herself closer to him, returning the embrace that he himself had been so hesitant to give.

The effect was instant, his mind was awash with new thoughts and feelings; why had she chosen to recuperate his own actions? Was this some convoluted way of her saying she had returned the favour, now please get off. Then again she could have just pushed him away if that was the case. No maybe she was just using him, it was evident that she had just had her first real brush with death and merely needed someone to reassure her that she was ok. That she was still alive. Even if that reality came with being stuck in this game of death. Maybe there was no special meaning behind it. Then again, the feeling of her head rubbing up against his neck gave him a better understanding of her intentions. It was clear that no, this wasn't about needing any random person for support in the heat of the moment and no she wasn't doing this as some sort of convoluted method of repayment during a brief moment of weakness.

Having both tensed up when Asuna had made the move to return the embrace. Her, in light of the worry that he wouldn't react positively towards her actions and him at the uncertainty of the intent behind her actions. The both of them were in a state of frenzy. Though after contemplating their respective questions for a matter of mere moments, they quickly cast aside any fears and uneasiness that they felt. Instead opting to each tighten their hold on the other. It was clear now, this was something that they had both wanted, the chance to have such a clear statement from the other without the need for words or special symbolic's. Nothing left up to interpretation, just a clear and direct answer from the other. A way of saying yes I care about you and yes I care about you alot.

There was no need for anything more, simply being able to hold and be held by one of the people you cared about most deeply was enough. To be able to feel their warmth, to feel they were still there and that they cared about you as much as you cared about them was warming for the soul. Sure enough their breathing soon returned to a more regulated pace, before slowly lulling into a rhythm more commonly associated with a peaceful slumber. Than that of a solider fighting on the front lines of a battlefield.

Both leaning back at the same time, being careful not to lose the warmth and respective comfort they had now grown so accustomed to. Each of them stared towards the other, equal parts bliss and embarrassment being reflected back at them. With faces flush at the realization of what they were doing, a small but indistinguishable smile grew on each of them before they both leaned forward. Each placing their forehead against the other and closing their eyes in the process as to not let the embarrassment grow any further before finally, each spoke the first word of their encounter.

""Thank you""


	2. Chapter 2: Talk

**The original plan for this story was for it to just be a one shot, as I said before I wanted to see if I could improve my creative writing and to this end I wanted to see if I could write something that dealt with romance in a way that wasn't outright stating it.**

 **But having uploaded very little to this site before (one story that'll forever be the "I'll get to it one day" story) I didn't set this story to complete when I should have done. My own mistake as I'm still getting used to uploading to the site, but it felt wrong to just randomly set the story to complete later. Therefore, here's another chapter.**

 **I'll wait a see if people think this works before writing anymore. I have a few ideas for more chapters but as I don't really have an overall plan don't expect the story to be all that long, and I can't guarantee that there will be all that much in the way of a story arc.**

 **Regardless, enjoy:**

 **(Updated - 19/09/2018)**

* * *

Cold, cold was the most prominent of feelings currently being felt by the two of them as they laid on the beds in their respective rooms. Having completed a respectable amount of levelling for the day the two had decided that it was time to end their work and after sharing a small and somewhat awkward meal together. They bid the other farewell and a good night before returning to their rooms for some much needed rest.

For close to an hour Asuna had been lying on her bed, tossing and turning continually while trying in vain to find the sweet embrace of sleep. Though no matter what she wouldn't, no couldn't sleep. Her mind was going a million miles a minute, buzzing with the thoughts and feelings of a teenage girl and all the unanswered questions that she so desperately wanted the answers to. Alas, it was well into the night at this point and the likelihood of finding said answers was quickly diminishing as the time ticked by.

With sleep continuing to elude her Asuna's thoughts turned instead to the day's events. Was that the normal thing to do? She questioned. Did all people react like that? Sure it was a situation in which the reality of death itself was laid bare, but was that just an excuse on her part for why he had done that? And if so then what of her own reactions, had she overstepped the mark when she had wanted to experience more of that warmth, more of that comfort for the lifeline it had so quickly become. No, that couldn't be it, right? The question itself felt more like a admittance to her own inadequacies rather than concrete evidence of her opinion. Her own reaction had been the same as any other person put in a similar situation and considering their current predicament it wouldn't have been surprising if it wasn't all that uncommon for others to have a similar reaction.

It was at this point that Asuna shot up from her bed, her expression clear and evident with her own understanding of what she had to do.

"I should talk to him"

For all her worrying and trepidation that was the conclusion that Asuna had come to. She wanted to talk. Nothing more and nothing less, she simply wanted to talk to him. To have the opportunity to learn more about him, yes that's what it was. They'd spent a lot of time together and it was only natural that she'd want to find out more about the type of person he was.

With that in mind Asuna took action.

Jumping off the bed she quickly brought up the in game menu and equipped her usual attire, making sure to check her appearance in the rooms mirror before reaching for the door. However the moment she went to reach for the handle she was met with the sound of someone knocking on the door in question. Somewhat confused and slightly bewildered as to who would be visiting her room, especially given the time of night that it was. Asuna opted to open the door outright rather than responded to the popup message. Only to be met with the face of the boy she had been thinking about just moments ago, his dark onyx eyes betraying his own surprise at the door suddenly being opened and the cause of his consequential step backward.

Seeing that it was indeed Kirito who had come knocking on the door to her room, Asuna tilted her head to the side inquisitively. Why had he come to her room at this time of night? It wasn't exactly rare for them to go to each others rooms, but that normally happened before they had begun their leveling for the day. It was typically used as a time for them to discuss what quoters they wanted to meet, if there were any materials they were after and ultimately where they would be hunting for the day. So for him to appear at her door and at this time of night was, unusual.

As it was the both of them were now staring at each other, their respective minds contemplating the next course of action they should take. Should either of them be the one to make the first move? Wasn't Kirito the one who had technically taken the initiative to go to Asuna's room first. So surely that meant that he was the one who should make the first move, right? Then again it almost always seemed to be Kirito who was leading and taking the initiative, so maybe Asuna should be the one to speak up first on this occasion. As a kind of balancing act for their relationship, a way to make sure that Kirito knew she wanted to interact with him just as much as he seemed to with her.

"Umm-" Asuna stumbled with her words, it was clear to her what she wanted to say. She just didn't know how to convert that in a manner that would show just how much she wanted to talk, how much she wanted to ask him and how much she wanted to tell him. There was so much, so much that she wanted to say. But how would she tell him that? Should she just come out with it all and tell him straight that she wanted to ask him alot, that she wanted to tell him alot? If so then how should she start? Should she go with the full on plan or would that just end up scaring him away? After all what if she came across as overbearing and ended up being to much for him, then where would she be? After much deliberation the answer she had been searching for came from an unlikely place.

"Let's talk", the words were so simple yet coming from Kirito they seemed so powerful. It felt so strange that with just those words all of Asuna's worry and self doubt were wiped away in an instant.

"Ok!" She replied in a cheerful tone while tilting her head and presenting a satisfied smile. Not wanting to waste the effort that he had put and miss the chance to resolve all of those unanswered questions she had.

After deciding that it would be a good idea to take their talk someplace a bit more open, perhaps somewhere with a few players milling about. As a way of helping to deal with the inevitable silence that would creep into their conversation. The place they arrived at was a small scenic overlook, scattered with a multitude of shops and restaurants. It was a popular destination for players who were looking to enjoy the nightlife alongside the frigid cold air that had become all too common in Aincrad. Likely a system that was added as a way of letting the players know what the weather was like in the real world, alongside playing a homage to the original development process of the nervegear.

To ensure that their conversation would not outright be interrupted they moved to sit on the edge of the overlook, to an area that rapped around the back of the line of stores and restaurants. With the air being as cold as it was the two of them continued to fidget even after they had sat down. As a way to help keep their body's warm and keep back the sting of the fridged night air. At least, that was what they were telling themselves. In reality the both of them were currently suffering from nervous tendencies which resulted in their inability to sit still. The journey here had been easy enough, but now that it was time to talk and to lay their thoughts bare it was like both of their minds returned a blank. Where should they start? What should they talk about? Where they just going to mention the stuff that has happened inside the game or where they going to talk about their real selves, the person they were outside the game?

As it was neither of them knew the answer, resulting in the both of them beginning to contemplate if the current course of action that they had taken was indeed the correct one. Thankfully however, Asuna's train of thought soon returned to something consisting of logical thinking patterns. She was the one who originally decided that she should talk to him, get to know him even. That fact still remained, even if he was the one to make the first move. So, now it was her turn, this time she would be the one to start. All she needed was a way to get rid of the awkward atmosphere that had grown between them.

"So..." she began, her voice weak and barley more than a whisper. It seemed though that a whisper was all that was needed as the break in silence was enough of a reason for Kirito to turn his head towards her, breaking his line of sight with the view below.

"Umm, it's really cold tonight, right? I wasn't expecting the game to have such a big temperature range."

The consequences were instant. A confused, almost doubtful expression consumed Kirito's face as Asuna spoke her words. As if he was saying, is that it? That's how you want to start? it was a kin to starting a conversation by talking about how nice the weather had been. It was almost a universal fact that any conversation that started with talk about the recent weather was doomed to fail. Thankfully for Asuna, Kirito was far from the socially eccentric type and as such this particular social quirk was something he was unaware of.

Surprisingly enough though, a child like grin gradually grew on Kirito's face as he presented his answer "Well that's an interesting story actually," he began. All the while moving his hands about in a animated way to help punctuate his points and clear evidence of his own enthusiasm on the subject.

"Some of the earliest testing for the nervegear actually began with altering perceived temperatures. If I remember correctly it had something to do with cryotherapy, not sure on the specifics though."

At Kirito's explanation, Asuna gave a small nod of her head.

"Well, they wanted to develop a way for letting people have the treatment without having to put them under sedation or have part of their body numbed. But with how piercing the cold temperatures used are they wanted to make sure it was as comfortable for the patient as possible."

"I see." Asuna said in confirmation. "So basically they wanted a way for people to still get the benefits of the treatment, but not have to go through the uncomfortably low temperatures."

"Exactly" Kirito affirmed with a nod of the head and a point of his finger. "So they worked on a way of isolating out the temperature before it reached the brain. Initial tests just left it at that, supposedly it meant that you lost all sense of feeling in that part of the body. Probably had something to do with how the senses are mixed together."

"Naturally," he continued before turning to look at the view spanning out in front of them. "They couldn't leave it like that so they developed a way to send an electronic burst to the part of the brain that'd normally receive the temperature signal. After that they just kept expanding to more sensen until we got the technology we know today."

"Into the nervegear right?" Asuna questioned.

"Yep, there really isn't any need to mess with body temperatures in a game like this. But as it was kind of how the nervegear came to be they probably left it in as a bit of a homage to the original development."

"I see, so that's why it's so cold" Asuna confirmed while once again rubbing he hands together in hopes that she would get some measure of warmth, all the while allowing a small pout to form on her face at not knowing something like the history of the nervegear she was now trapped in.

Thankfully though, this had opened up an avenue of conversation for Asuna to follow.

"So were you interested in the nervegear before, well you know before all this?" She asked, gesturing to her surroundings to reinforce her point.

"Hmm, I guess so?" Came Kirito's answer, as un-reassuring as it was.

"I'd say it was less the nervegear and more just technology in general. After some, stuff... Happened, I guess I started interacting with people a lot less and that just kind of pushed me towards tech, you know?" He stated as if it were a grounded fact that she should have been aware of.

"I mean, it's so much easier working and dealing with technology. Like 1 + 1 will always be 2, it doesn't change. But people, that's a whole other ball game. Now you gotta start dealing with ambiguity, the meaning isn't always clear and how do you know what the right answer is?"

His explanation left Asuna astounded, to begin with she hadn't expected him to open up like that and especially after his brief explanation on the type of person he was. His words resounded in her head as she once again studied his facial features. He didn't really come across as the loner type, at least not during all of the interactions they had had together. Then again maybe he just saw the game as an extension of interacting with people online, or perhaps as another way of interacting with a computer. Regardless of the face to face aspect that came with playing a full dive game compared to more traditional methods.

On top of that Asuna had never really encountered someone who seemed so distant, even when the person in question was so near. It wasn't as if she had never lost contact with friends or had people who had distanced themselves from her for a multitude of reasons. She herself had had a number of times where she was the one that stopped talking with certain individuals. But she wouldn't have ever really thought that you could describe something as simple as interpersonal relationships; something that she found relatively trivial and mundane, as difficult. Though for her this was the first time someone with such views had opened up about it and as a result she was somewhat stumped as to how she should respond.

"Umm, wow." She started, the uncertainty at being told something so important evident in her voice. "I-I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine," kirito assured her with a relaxed smile and accompanying chuckle to prove his point. Leaning back he observed the distance ceiling that made up the floor above. A depiction of the night sky not unlike that found in the real world projected onto it.

"I haven't really spoken much to people after what happened, but I suppose everyone needs someone they can talk to, someone they can open up to and that includes me." He then proceeded to lower his gaze momentarily, only to then line up his eyesight with Asuna before continuing.

"So really, thank you."

At those words a smile, not unlike the one Kirito currently had began to reflect itself on Asuna.

"So what about you?" Came the inquisitive question.

"Huh?"

"What do you mean, huh? I told you about myself so it's time to return the favour."

"Oh, umm. Well w-what did you want to know?"

"Hmm, do you have any hobbies?"

"Hobbies?" Asuna questioned, clearly confused at being asked such a question.

"Yeah you know, what'd you like to do for fun. Or when your having a lazy weekend and have nothing better to do. I already told you mine, well mostly with the whole messing around with technology and avoiding people thing. So how about you?"

Quickly Asuna's face formed into a frown as she gazed at the sky above.

Was it really that difficult of a question? At the look on her face Kirito began to question if he was pushing to far, it wasn't as if he was asking anything he considered personal. After all he wasn't asking what school do you go to or how old are you? He just hoped that he would be able to get a better understanding of who she was based on what she did in her spare time, and ultimately what type of person she was behind the avatar.

"Umm, well I don't. I mean-" Came the somewhat ambiguous answer as Asuna continued to stumble over her words, all the while waving her hands about in a somewhat confused and frantic manor. Unfortunately for her this only served to drive Kirito's curiosity further, and resulted in him tilting his head to the side with a questioning look on his face as he took in the sights of the girl sitting next to him. The result of which was a pout forming on Asuna's face as she turned her own gaze to the ground below them, a slightly flushed look upon it. As if being suddenly thrust on a unwanted stage and forgetting the prepared script.

"So you don't have anything you do for fun? Nothing you find exciting?" Kirito asked, hoping to find answers to the elusive enigma she had so quickly become.

Sighing, as if in defeat. Asuna resolved herself to come clean. At least, to a certain degree.

"My mother's always been kind of strict with me." The sentence seemed to peak Kirito's interest as his face changed from a confused and perplexed expression to an inquisitive one. "And for the lesser part my dad has as well." Starting to feel more relaxed, Asuna exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

"For them it's always been about getting the best grades, always making sure I had perfect results and ensuring that I played the part of their ever perfect daughter." Turning towards Kirito, Asuna displayed a somewhat sullen, almost depressive expression.

"And naturally that comes with some costs. Mainly my home and social life. Sure I have friends and I consider us quite a close knit group, but every time they'd invite me out or plan an event together. I always blow them off by saying I had to study or something."

Once again Asuna's gaze returned to the view in front of her before continuing.

"I wouldn't say I'm a particularly bad student in terms of grades, but I also wouldn't say I'm anything special. So to keep up my appearance as the perfect daughter and model student I had to keep up with studying all the time. I guess after a while it just became the norm for me and before I knew it I was turning down people just so I could keep up with the books."

"So you just ended up going with what you saw as the easy option, to keep the normal flow going?"

"I guess that's one way of looking at it."

Kirito's words had given Asuna food for thought, had she really just been trying to keep the status quo? She continued to contemplate his words for a moment before continuing.

"I wouldn't really say it was a conscious decision, at least I don't think it was. That's just kind of how it ended up."

Seeing that this angle of approach wouldn't get him the answers he was looking for, Kirito decided to change the question.

"Then what about when you were younger?"

"Huh? Younger? Well... I don't really remember much from when I was younger. Mhmm, " came the strained replay as she tried to recall what she did during her childhood.

"I can remember I used to visit my grandparents a lot, they owned a sizable plot of land outside if Tokyo and I used to spend a lot of the holidays there. Oh, oh that's it. Reading!" Asuna practically shouted the last part as if she had just deduced the answers of the universe.

"I used to read a lot, mostly fiction. I guess it served as my way of escaping reality to a certain extent. That and it was one of the only times that my mother used to sit with me."

At reaching this revelation Asuna quickly grew a down cast expression. Was that truly the only time that her and her mother had been close together? Surely there were other times, right? Though try as she might Asuna just couldn't come up with another time that her and her mother had been so close.

"Reading, huh?" Kirito pondered as he contemplated Asuna's answer and pulled her from her internal musings. "Yep, I can definitely see you as the type to enjoy a good fantasy novel."

"Oh, making assumptions now are we?" Asuna sang, an almost playful tone to her voice as a small childlike grin grew upon her face. Somehow, just the sound of his voice seemed to improve her mood.

"Wha-, I just meant that you seemed like the type of person who enjoyed getting away from reality. You know? Besides, you said it yourself! So I can't be the only one at fault here."

Feeling as if he had perhaps pressed a little too hard when wanting to find out more about her, Kirito suddenly felt as though he was on the defensive.

"I see," Asuna affirmed with a slight nod of her head and accented her words with a small chuckle. "Well as fun as it is to see you squirming about, I guess I can say your partially right."

As if having escaped certain death Kirito let out a breath that he didn't realise he was holding. Allowing Asuna to continue when she saw that he had calmed down and the atmosphere was more relaxed.

"Like I said before, I've had to make a lot of sacrifices to keep up with people's expectations and I guess you could say you're right in your assumptions."

At such a confession Kirito suddenly perked up.

"I think a good example would be this," Asuna spoke as she gestured to the virtual world currently encompassing them. "I shouldn't even be here."

"If I'm gonna be honest Asuna, I don't think any of us should really be here..."

A frown formed on Asuna's face at Kirito's reply. She knew what he meant but that wasn't exactly the point she was making.

"That's not what I… Look what I meant was this copy of SAO and the nervegear aren't even mine, they're my brothers."

Kirito's thoughts were promptly sent into a spiral of unanswered questions. 'So she has a brother, I wonder if he's older or younger? I'd guess that if he had access to a nervegear then he's probably older than her. Though owning a nervegear was no guarantee.'

As if being able to tell the very questions that kirito was seeking answers for, Asuna quickly gave him said answers. "Older, he's older than me and was heading off to college the same week that SAO launched. So… he wasn't going to get to play it until he got back and I just kind of thought on a whim I'd give it a try, you know?" Thinking on her own words Asuna's gaze again returned to the world stretching out before them.

"I'd just see what it was like, take the chance to experience this new world where I didn't have any commitments and didn't have any appearances to maintain." Quickly, Asuna's own expression clouded over with an element of sadness. It may have just been a spur of the moment decisions for her, but she still couldn't have predicted the lasting consequences of that moment of weakness.

Still, she had gone through many of her own hardships before and this was no different. Even if there was the ever encroaching scythe of death around their necks, threatening to cut off their lives at a moments notice. She would just need to knuckle down and do what she could to survive, and as if to reflect this the sadness that once clouded her face was soon replaced with a slightly lopsided grin. Behind which was the resolve and tenacity that she had talked up to herself about, the want and the will to live and to come out of this experience the otherside.

"Anyway enough about how I got pulled into this, let's hear more about you. How'd you get roped into this?"

Unfortunately for Asuna this was all it took for Kirito to jump head first into a more extravagant and in depth explanation about how he first got interested in the technology behind SAO. Which subsequently lead to his applying for the beta and eventual chance to get his hands on the final release. Little did Asuna expect how enthusiastic Kirito was when he spoke about how he got interested in the game and the technology.

It was normal for people to talk at length about something they liked but in most cases this lead to a one sided lecture on the person's unending love for something. Which in many cases meant that it came across as long winded and boring, especially if it was a topic that the other party wasn't particularly interested in. But this… this was different.

Asuna wasn't overly interested in technology, no more so than any normal person was. In that she had interest in newly developed products and advances that would affect her. Though she wouldn't go out of her way to investigate the latest announcements from the industry. But at this time none of that seemed to matter. Because the one talking right now was Kirito, the one talking in such an animated manner and with such enthusiasm was Kirito and the one who currently had the largest smile, similar to that of a small child opening his presents on christmas morning, was Kirito.

Whether it was because of how excitedly he was talking or if it was because of how much energy could be heard in his voice, Asuna couldn't be sure. Then again maybe it wasn't so much about it being how happy he sounded but rather because it was him who was talking. Regardless of her reasons Asuna found that it was a voice she could listen to for hours, simply being able to listen to him and be content in being able to hear what made him happy to be alive in this world.

With the passage of time eluding the two of them, what was once night turned to day and the once dark plains below now had the vast caress of sunlight laying across them.

"...and that's it really." Kirito finished, having talked for a couple of hours unbeknownst to himself, with only marginal inputs from Asuna to reassure him that she was still listening.

Having finished his talk Kirito seemed to come out of his slightly dazed state and looked out in front of him. Only now realizing how much time had passed.

"Oh crap, I'm sorry I didn't mean to go on for that long. I just..."

Either fortunately or unfortunately it was at this moment that Kirito turned to his right, hoping to apologize directly to Asuna for being such a waste of her time and boring her with his overzealous explanations. Only instead of being met with the pleasantly smiling and understanding face that Asuna often showed him, he was instead met with a head of chestnut coloured hair.

Continuing with his theme of only now noticing the world around him Kirito felt a small but indistinguishable weight on his shoulder. With his thoughts now returning to that of a more aware and functional state he began to feel a warm blush creep up his face. So… following the most logical chain of events he had in fact talked for a lot longer than he had first thought and having not talked for a while. Instead being content to simply listen to him, Asuna must have been feeling rather tired. Which lead to… yeah. So Asuna the one girl he had truly spoken to and the one person he had gotten close was now asleep on his shoulder.

In an effort to confirm that this was in fact the case Kirito once again turned his focus to the girl sleeping next to him. Her face was at an angle, her hair covering the right side and a content expression that was only momentarily broken when she twitched in her sleep or moved to get more comfortable. Her breathing was calm and relaxed with one hand in her lap and the other grasping slightly at Kirito's arm, likely in a effort to keep herself steady.

As if being controlled by some unknown will Kirito's free arm moved to brush the fallen hair away from her face, an action that quickly evidenced kirito's desire to gaze upon Asuna's face completely. The result of which was that he was given the rare opportunity to look upon her far closer than he ever had before, to gaze at the person who he had shared so much time with since being stuck in this death game and the person he would admit he had grown closest to. Before he could react a wealth of emotion overcame him, Asuna, was simply beautiful. Whether she walking around town or fighting on the front lines she always had an air of elegance and beauty about her, though now that she was sleeping here, next to him with the light of the rising sun glancing across her face. That once beautiful and elegant air turned to one more cute, even adorable in nature.

Before he had even realised it she had turned into the type of girl you just wanted to wrap up in your arms and protect. Overcome with emotion Kirito's own expression turned from one of slight embarrassment to one of pure elation, he was fortunate, so very fortunate to have a girl as cute and adorable as Asuna next to him. With that in mind he slowly and carefully wriggled his arm free of Asuna's light grasp before maneuvering it behind her and carefully using his other one to lower her head onto his lap, hopefully providing a more comfortable sleeping position for her. A move which showed evidence of success as Asuna began to curl up into a ball like state and take full advantage of Kirito's provided lap pillow.

With the sleeping Asuna now on his lap Kirito gazed at the plains stretching out below which were slowly beginning to fill with sporadic groups of players as people began their levelling for the day. Left with nothing more than his thoughts and musings Kirito's hand absently stroked the soft hair of the girl sleeping on his lap. His mind filled with one word, one emotion one feeling only.

"Warmth" he spoke out as an empty statement to the players below.


	3. Chapter 3: Feelings

**Kirito and Asuna have now been set as the main pairing, I was trying to be kind of ambiguous before but it's pretty clear how this story is going to end so this should help more people find it.**

 **I've also taken a look over the previous two chapters and apologize to anyone who read them before. There were a ton of mistakes and some parts that just didn't make sense. I've updated them with new versions, though they can still be improved and I may do so in the future. While the content is generally the same some parts were completely redone so just a heads up if something seems different.**

 **Finally in response to the guest review, I'm happy to hear you're enjoying the read. I have a plan in mind for the rest of the story and think it'll probably come to around 5 or 6 chapters. I hope to write something longer one day but want to practice with short stories first.**

 **Now that's out of the way, enjoy:**

* * *

The world outside was covered in a thick blanket of snow, the trees having lost all of their greenery were nothing more than a collection of bare branches and accumulated snowfall. The weather continued to turn as more and more snow fell, almost obscuring the view outside the window.

Despite the current weather conditions Asuna did not feel any of the cold. Instead she was warm to the touch, having been sitting under the kotatsu from when she first arrived at her grandparents house. The room she was in was of a modest size, with the kotatsu placed in the middle and a tv and cabinet to one side. The room itself was inside a house with a traditional Japanese layout, meaning that the room had two entrances on either side with the decorations and amenities on the other wall and windows lining the entirety of the final one.

Having arrived a couple of hours ago, while it was still light out. The once bright white sky had now turned to one of a deep grey color. Evident of the passing of time which had turned a once bright evening swiftly into the dark of night.

Asuna herself had just woken up from a short nap, the warmth having made her feel drowsy and the pillow they had given her looked oh so tempting. Thus, she had given into her desires and only now awoken from her slumber. After taking the time to wake up she was greeted by the person sitting opposite from her, though she could not distinguish their face it was likely to be that of either her grandfather or grandmother. It was often the case that when Asuna went to spend time with her grandparents then it would normally be for a couple of days, during which her parents would be preoccupied with work. Resulting in the three of them being alone, as her brother spent his time studying for school.

Rubbing her eyes in hopes that she would be able to remove the feeling of tiredness, she focused her gaze on the person sitting opposite. Upon seeing the curious gaze of the small girl the person returned a smile before gesturing to the table between them. Placed in the middle of the kotatsu was a plate with a number of half peeled oranges, some slices of which were arranged around the edge. Knowing how much she liked them and clearly being given the ok to take some, Asuna reached for a slice before placing it in her mouth and biting down. The somewhat sharp yet refreshing flavour helping to counteract the heat of the kotatsu and providing a refreshing feeling.

This was one of her earliest memories, a memory of the time she spent at her grandparents. Which, judging by the scenery outside the window was sometime during winter. Most likely near the Christmas period when her parents time at work would double or even triple in some cases. Perhaps this was when it had first started, when she had first started to walk the path of becoming the perfect daughter. Feelings of loneliness and longing began to well up inside her. She had been such a small girl, clearly oblivious to the situation and not knowing full well how much it hurt.

It wasn't as if she didn't like spending time with her grandparents, they were always overjoyed to see her and because they lived out in the country there was always so much more room for her to explore and play. But for what it was worth, she still lacked something. Something that she didn't realise was missing back then, but something she knew now. That emotion that she had only been able to feel after coming to this place and meeting _him_ , she should have received it from her parents as a child. No, even as she grew older it shouldn't have changed. But for what it was worth she didn't, and that, that was what hurt her the most.

For almost an hour after moving her onto his lap Asuna continued to sleep contently, as if she didn't have a care in the world and only making slight movements in response to her own breathing. This however, all changed when something must have happened in her dream. While she was once a peacefully sleeping girl, she began to tense up. The muscles all over her body contracting and relaxing as she reacted to what she was seeing in her dream. If the excessive movements coupled with the increase in her breathing was anything to go by, kirito was somewhat sure at least that she wasn't enjoying what she was seeing.

Coupled with the fact that she had been asleep for awhile and he was rather tired himself, the adrenaline rush he had from his enthusiastic talk earlier had since dissipated and the call of a warm bed and some good rest was creeping up on him. To ensure they he would be able to get some sleep himself and that he wouldn't just fall face first onto Asuna from exhaustion he began with gently shaking her shoulder. When that failed to pull the girl from her slumber he began to also call her name, perhaps she would react better to audio stimulation rather than a physical one.

To Kirito's elation and Asuna's chagrin the combination of the two served to wake the poor girl, still much too tired to properly react to her surroundings. Opening her eyes slowly, before blinking a few times to help them adjust to the light of day. Only that once her view began to focus a small amount of confusion began to descend on her, why could she see the open plains in front of her? And why were they on the side? Were they always like that or was it a recent thing? Perhaps something for a special event? Deciding that she needed more information on where she was and why exactly she was apparently outside rather than in the comfort of a bed in some inn or boarding house. Slowly and with a dazed and lethargic motion to it, Asuna moved her body so that her face was looking straight up.

Now, she could have made a number of assumptions on why she could see the area that she could. Maybe she had been out levelling too long and decided to take a short nap somewhere on the outskirts of town, far too tired to look for a proper inn. She also could have been still dreaming, only this one seemed a lot more real than the last one.

Seeing her confused and slightly bewildered expressions staring back at him, Kirito offered his input on the matter. "Morning, " came his somewhat cheerful answer. "You slept like a rock. Well… a living rock, but you get the point."

Umm, why? Asuna thought. Why was Kirito's face above her and more importantly why was he… Ah, so that's it. Having kicked into overdrive to solve the presented problem Asuna deduced from the facts that she was in fact sleeping on Kirito's lap. They had been talking for a long time the night before and she had grown tired, the supposed _pillow_ below her was warm but not nearly as comfortable as a normal pillow. Though that didn't mean it was unpleasant. No sooner had Asuna deduced the answer before her face lit up bright red with embarrassment and shame before she swiftly moved to sit up, covering her face with her hands in a vain attempt to hide from the situation.

Hoping to not be the only one suffering from such embarrassment Asuna looked behind her at the boy who had been her personal pillow for the last three hours before peering through a gap in her fingers. The sight that greeted her however, a wide grin on the boys face reflecting the fact that he knew exactly how she was feeling did not help matters. But only lead to escalating her feelings of embarrassment further.

Having been thrust into a situation not entirely of her own making her mind raced to find the appropriate reaction. Should she make a run for it? She had the speed edge over Kirito so would easily be able to outrun him. Though in truth that would only mean she was delaying the inevitable. Then what if she tried to return the favour, find someway to make him feel the same way. She had momentarily had him on the ropes during their conversation earlier, though the likelihood of her gaining the upper hand from this situation were negligible at beast. So what if she just played it off? Acted like it didn't affect her. With everything that had happened this seemed like the best option. So with that in mind she set about acting on her decision.

Moving her hands away from her mouth and letting out a small yawn before stretching her arms, Asuna did her best to make it look as though she had woken up from a normal night's sleep that in no way involved being as close as she was to a boy.

"I don't know about you but I really needed that, I was kind of tired after all the levelling yesterday."

"Uh, huh" came the somewhat skeptical reply from Kirito.

Seeing the skepticism in his eyes Asuna did her best to keep up the act. After all she had go gone this far and couldn't afford to be faulted now. So, while pointing at him and in particular his lap she proceeded to make her point.

"You actually make a decent pillow, not the most comfortable I've used by I guess the warmth was a bonus."

Having said the last part while trying to keep herself from shying away from Kirito's intense stare, she only hoped she had done enough to throw him off the trail.

Alas, fate was not kind to Asuna for it had paired her with Kirito and if there was one thing Kirito enjoyed more than perhaps he should have done. It was messing with people who were so desperately trying to get out of a situation.

Unfortunately, Asuna only found this out after the putting in all the effort.

"So I'm nice and warm am I?"

The question and accompanying snide expression cut through Asuna like a hot knife through butter. Having clearly lost the battle she turned away, and pout forming on her face at the clarity by which she had lost.

Not one to easily back down when he had the advantage Kirito proceeded to press the attack.

"Don't worry," he said with a expression far more amused than it should have been, while patting the somewhat distraught Asuna. "You can use my lap whenever you feel the need for a power nap, sense you liked it so much maybe we're going to need to make it a regular thing."

The results were instant as Asuna once again faced him, only this time the pout ha been replaced with a expression full of shock horror. Was he being serious!? It was bad enough the first time but the thought that she might have to go through that again… it made her shiver. With that in mind she ensured that her response was both swift and direct.

"No" It was a simple response, though that coupled with the blank expression she forced onto herself seemed to do the trick.

Seeing such a direct reaction Kirito began to question himself, perhaps had taken it too far with he's teasing?

"Sorry," he whimpered out as he lowered his head. "I went to far."

Feeling the sincerity behind his words Asuna's expression lightened up, her trademark smile and head tilt returning.

"It's fine, it's fine," She sung out in a much more cheerful tone than either of them expected. "I'm as much at fault here for overreacting as much as I did. So how about we call it even?"

Truthly she hoped that this would just end, she needed to make it clear to him that this didn't matter as much as the both of them were making it seem to. Besides, if she was going to be honest it was quite nice to see someone when she first woke up. Though she would never admit to it, being in this game of death had caused her to grow more aware of her loneliness and Kirito's presence had helped to somewhat alleviate the problem.

"But I-" he started, though try as he might Asuna wouldn't let Kirito tell her that it was 100% his own fault and that she didn't have anything to apologize for.

"Even?" She asked again, only this time in a slightly more forceful tone. Holding her hand out for the two of them to shake on it.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get his way, he concluded that the best course of action would be to accept Asuna's proposal. So after taking Asuna's hand in his own he spoke his own answer.

"Even"

With the score settled the two of them were left to mull over their own thoughts as they observed the scenery in front of them. Though now being left with nothing to do resulted in Kirito's body refusing his own restraint as he let out a unwanted yawn. Evidencing the fact that he was in fact also tired from lack of sleep, regardless of how he may or may not have been acting.

A fact that Asuna found ever so amusing as he had be so brazen with his attacks on her own need for rest. To this end she contemplated pushing him on it, after all he had done so to her not moments ago and it was only fair. To her detriment though, as she turned to make her piece heard she was met with the sight of a drowsy and half seemingly unresponsive Kirito. His head was sunk low on his shoulders, as if the weight alone was too much to hold and his once animated arms and hands were now sitting lifeless to his sides. It was clear as day that he was tired, their long talk last night had kept them energized, but that only lasted why they were talking. Naturally when she had taken her chance to sleep, though not by choice. It meant that he was left with nothing more to do than obediently watch over her, a fact that perhaps she shouldn't think of if the warm fuzzy feeling creeping up on her was anything to go by.

Having had her own thoughts swayed by the mere sight of him, she decided to return the favour.

"Come on, we should head back to the Inn." The way she had said it sounded perfectly normal, though Kirito couldn't brush off the feeling of disappointment that was slightly everdent in her voice. Did she not want to go back to the Inn? Or was it that she just didn't want their time together here to end? They would be together again after some food and rest so there wasn't really anything to worry about, though if he was being honest he may have slightly, just slightly shared the same feelings also.

Despite the active momentum of his own thoughts the response to her statement merely came as a small nod of the head and a slight groan of agreement.

Seeing that just sitting here wasn't going to get anything done Asuna moved herself back from the ledge, before jumping to her feet. Looking down at the boy who had occupied the majority of her thoughts for the past few days. She could see that his head was once again down and he was making no effort to move towards the Inn, like they had agreed on.

"Really?" She posed the question, as if to point out the fact that he had been so lively moments ago. But now that his secret was out of the bag he was all about falling asleep on the spot.

Deciding that the only way to get him moving would be to take drastic action Asuna reached down and grabbed hold of Kirito's hand. "Come on." she once again pushed. Only this time using her hold on him to help pull him up from the sitting position he had spent the entire night in.

Having been pulled up from the ground rapidly the resulting motion had meant that the two of them were now face to face, close enough that they could feel the breath of their counterpart. Though not close enough for the two of them to be touching. With Asuna being so close to him Kirito reacted on instinct. Making the motion to jump back at the sudden, though not entirely unwelcome intrusion into his personal space. Though this motion was stopped by the hand that was still holding onto his own, the owner of which returned a gaze of disappointment at the clear disregard for his surroundings.

The walk back to the Inn took longer than perhaps it should have done, neither of them had made the move the let go of the others hand. Though it may have been thought of as a sweet looking scene between the two of them, reality was much different. Instead it looked as though an older sister was leading her younger brother by the hand to make sure he didn't get lost. Regardless of how it looked to onlookers the thoughts and feelings of those involved reflected a very different outlook. For one, though Asuna had taken the initiative to grab hold of him in hopes of providing encouragement to get to the Inn faster, she hadn't expected him to keep that hold. An action which she was now dealing with the consequences of.

Despite being the one to take the aforementioned actions she still felt somewhat embarrassed at the reality of dragging him through the busy streets towards their destination. She could feel the warmth of his own hand on hers and it resulted in a wealth of different emotion. The main two of which were embarrassment alongside a hint of happiness. If she was being truthful the fact that so many different people were seeing the two of the together like this didn't bother her as much, especially if she could get just a hint of the same feeling from when he had embraced her the day before.

Unfortunately for the both of them, nothing lasts forever and soon enough they come up on the Inn they had been renting their rooms in. Blending in with the same beige color as the rest of the town the Inn sat as one of the few buildings in the area with a second floor. Covered in a multitude of windows on both floors and an accompanying open door at the front. The building was very much designed to pull the gaze of passing players and hopefully their patronage as well.

Having walked into the front entrance and moved to one of the sides, a small table and accompanying chairs helping to fill the empty and bland looking space. Asuna turned her gaze to Kirito, who was now more awake as a result a of the combined journey to get here and the reality that his hand was being held by Asuna. For the majority of the journey he had been quiet and complacent, having been falling in and out of drowsy consciousness. Though that didn't mean that he wasn't paying attention, quite the contrary in fact. He had very much been aware of the situation and in particular how unexpectedly nice it felt to be able to hold and be held by her.

Realistically speaking when he told himself this it came across as somewhat sad. Was this really the level he was at? Simply by getting the chance to hold her hand he acted as if he had won the grand prize in a lottery draw. with this revelation in mind he started to call into question just what Asuna meant to him. Sure they had banded together a couple of times to go out and level together, but that was just because it was more efficient to level with someone else, right? No, that wouldn't be it. If that really was the only reason then she could have partied up with anyone with the same being true for himself. For some reason unknown to him they had decided to party up together. Maybe it was convenience, they were both there at the time so it made sense.

With this reality behind him Kirito began to come to term with the real reason they had partied up, or rather why they still were today. In truth the two of them had simply become interested in the other. At least he assumed the same held true for her also. He hadn't really been this close with anyone other than his immediate family before, and he could hardly say he was close with anyone he spoke to online. So when he began to find out little bits about her during the times they were together, such as what she liked or disliked and what made her tick or what made her happy. The last one he found being one of the most importance. He had seen her smile a number of times, one he assumed was used to hide her true feelings. Though there had been rare occasions which, though few in number he had been able to see her truly smiling and during those times he was reminded of how much he enjoyed the sight of her genuine feelings of happiness.

"So, umm… you should probably get some sleep."

The sound of Asuna's voice hurriedly pulled Kirito from his thoughts, his gaze looking upon the face of the person who had been occupying his mind for the past few days. There was a hint of concern in her words which though discreet were reinforced by the expression being displayed on her face. It seemed that she was indeed concerned over how tired he looked, a thought which brought him some measure of joy.

Asuna hoped that he would take the given advice, though she knew how stubborn he could be at times. For one she remembered a short while after they met how they almost always argued about where they should do their levelling. She had wanted to go to the more open area of the surrounding plains, which though there were more players and a smaller chance of getting mobs theirselves. It did mean that they would have more security with the increased amount of players present. Though he had wanted to stick to the confines of the floors dungeon, which provided a greater chance to earn more experience as the mobs there were a higher average level and thus gave greater rewards.

Looking back on it now resulted in a amused grin forming on Asuna's face, though at the time she didn't think it was funny. Especially as sometimes it resulted in the two of them ignoring each other for days on end. Still the two of them would always end up apologizing to each other in the end and in a way, perhaps the disagreements the two shared early on in their relationship had helped them to better understand one another. With fond memories now circulating in her mind Asuna once again looked towards the boy in question, waiting to hear his response.

"Yeah, I could really do with some shut eye." He stated, now much more awake and to the sound of Asuna humming in agreement.

"How about I send you a message when I'm ready to meet up again, unless you wanted to wait around for a couple of hours and I'll come get you after?"

Asuna pondered on the question for a moment before giving her answer, "Nah, I wanted to catch some more sleep too but after that I've got some errands to run. Just message me when you're feeling more awake." While not entirely true, Asuna did have somewhere she wanted to go even if it wasn't for a specific errand. But that didn't really matter.

With that decided upon the two of them went to turn towards their respective staircases, as Kirito was on one side of the building and Asuna was renting on the other. Though as they did so the two of them felt an amount of resistance on their arms. Without even realising it the two of them had grown so used to the touch of the other that neither of them had registered that they were still holding hands. Rather, it now felt completely normal to them, as if the other person was an extension of their self that would have left them with a unsatisfied feeling had they let go. The result of this was minor though still impactful as both returned a warm smile at the feelings they were currently sharing. While it wasn't anywhere near the same level as being held in a warm yet familiar hug, it still allowed for the two of them to feel the other person and in a way confirm their existence.

Though as nice as it was for the two of them, staring into the caring eyes of the other. The fact that they were holding hands would lead to problems when going to their own rooms, unless of course they arms were capable of growing long enough to span the length of the building. Now that was a bug that the two of them would have been pleased with. Alas with the likelihood of this coming to fruition almost an impossibility, it was with a certain amount of sadness that the two of them parted, though not without squeezing their counterparts hand one last time.

With their small, almost ceremonial in nature parting out of the way the two of them turned to their perspective stairs before climbing them to their destination. Upon making it to their rooms and lying on their beds they found that unlike before sleep came to them quickly. Whether this was a result of how long they had been awake and the fatigue of such an endeavour finally catching up with them, or if it was that their curiosity had been satisfied. Regardless the two of them quickly fell into slumber, their thoughts completely occupied by the other individual and what interactions they could look forward to in the future.


	4. Chapter 4: Advice

**Bit of a shorter wait this time as I already had most of this written before posting chapter 3. I'm hoping to get the final chapter done before the end of this month but can't promise anything, especially as I want to re-read over the past chapters again and check for any typos or mistakes I may have made.**

 **As a side note I just finished watching the first episode of season 3 and have to say I'm really looking forward to what this season brings. From what everyone's said this is meant to be one of the best arc's in the series and having not read up to alicization in the novels I'm going in completely blind, so looking forward to all the plot twists.**

 **That and having more material to work with always helps to give a boost to motivation.**

 **Anyway here's chapter 4, enjoy:**

 **(Updated - 01/12/2018)**

* * *

When Asuna opened her eyes she was met with the sight of the dark, abyss like ceiling of her room. Having not quite woken up yet, patterns could be seen dancing across the otherwise plain wood. A result of her eyes adjusting to the sudden difference in light levels. Rolling onto her left side a moderately sized window fell into the corner of her vision. The sky was bright and the buildings opposite her room reflected the light in a way that made the area feel a lot brighter than it should have done, causing her to wince slightly.

Deciding that she had slept enough Asuna moved off from the bed before stretching her hands out above her head. Though it wasn't her real body the game recreated the same feelings and there was nothing better than a stretch after a good night's rest, however short it may have been. Deftly moving her hands about in a well practiced motion her attire was quickly switched from that of night wear to her trademark knights of the blood oath uniform. With her preparations made Asuna headed for the door of her room, setting about accomplishing what she had planned for the day.

Walking out from the Inn the sounds of the town hit her like a brick wall. The hustle and bustle of players could be heard alongside the background noise composing the towns ambiance, though they were not as loud as they once was. Likely a product of the time of day that she had woken up. Which, based on the amount of players around and the level of noise that could be heard it was still early in the afternoon. Most players having already come back from their morning training or exploring before grabbing a bite to eat for lunch and then once again setting off on their journeys.

With that thought in mind Asuna decided it would be best to grab a bite to eat herself before heading to where she planned to for the day. With most of the players already back out in the fields and dungeons she was left with a wide selection of restaurants and cafes to choose from. In general Asuna wasn't one for spending a lot of money on what she saw as unnecessary things like food. The game had a decent enough recreation of tastes and thanks to the nerve gear you would still get the feeling of fullness when you had finished a meal. Though that had never really been enough of a reason for her to spend extra on getting a fancy meal when she could be investing that money back into improving her gear, and in turn adding just that little extra chance that they would get out of this hell sooner.

Still for as much as she didn't see a point in spending the extra money she had heard rumours about the cooking skill. Which while she knew it existed she hadn't taken the time or effort to investigate it. Perhaps something or someone would press her into looking into it in the future. A thought that brought a small smile to her face and one she kept mulling over as she decided to head into the nearest cafe and order one of their cheapest set meals.

With her hunger taken care of Asuna headed to the teleport gate, her intended destination was a small shop on the 48th floor, or more precisely the owner of said shop. She was in need of advice and with so few players who fit the criteria for the type of advice that she was looking for, it fell to one of her few friends to help in her time of need.

After arriving on the 48th floor Asuna immediately set out towards the outskirts of town where her friends shop was situated. Which was one of a number of buildings making up a less populated street on the outer edges of the floors main town. The shop in question sat backed up against a shallow river that ran parallel to the heavily trodden road next to it. With a layer of cobbled brick along the bottom and beige colored rendering covering the rest of the space up to the roof which itself sat low. Because of it's monotone color pallet and accents of spruce framing the building gave out a very homely feel. The roof in question was designed in such a way that it stretched out to cover the front of the shop which consisted of a wood decked veranda on top of which sat a bench where players could waste the day away as they took in the sights and sounds that made up the 48th floor.

That however was merely the front of the shop and it was a style that was very closely mirrored by the rest of the buildings in the area, helping to make it feel like the street had been built up in one go. Rather than being placed sporadically without want or reason. To further emphasis that this was indeed a craftsman's house there was also a water wheel which likely drove gears located within the workshop portion of the building.

Moving up to the door Asuna pushed her way through the low bearing door frame and was greeted with the sight of a well lit room. Sitting around the edges were a number of display cases, each of which were filled with all manner of weapons ranging from swords and axes to maces and daggers.

"And so the queen of the attack squad descended from the heavens as she finally remembered her dear old friend."

Startled by the sudden sound of a energetic yet slightly annoyed voice Asuna instantly trained her gaze on the far end of the shop.

Just as she had expected, standing behind the wooden counter where most of her sales were made and finalised was her friend Lisbeth.

Finding Asuna's gaze upon her Lisbeth, or rather Liz as she was known to her friends returned a somewhat stoic expression, accentuated by her hands resting on her hips.

"Two weeks ago you was meant to be here for gear maintenance, Where the heck have you been and why haven't you responded to any of my messages?"

At the posed question Asuna returned an inquisitive expression. She had no recollection of receiving any messages and hadn't she already had her weapons maintained? In an effort to check she wasn't losing her mind Asuna deftly moved her hands about in a well practiced manner in order to see if she had indeed missed any messages. The results were instant, given away as her expression divulged the truth.

"Liz, I'm so sorry. I don't know how I could have-"

"Forgotten you dear old friend?" Lisbeth finished, the sass evident in her voice.

"Liz I didn't-" She started, though wasn't give the chance to finish.

"Uh-huh," Came lis's response. The irritation clear in her voice.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was? I had half a mind to go up to the front lines and get you myself." The statement itself came accompanied with a softening of her expression, the worry evident in both her voice and the expression she was displaying.

Feeling guilty at being the cause of her friends worry Asuna's gaze turned towards the floor as a pout formed on her face. She hadn't meant to forget about their meeting and she definitely didn't mean to ignore her messages. But she had been so caught up in the progress the clearers had made and then there was that thing with Kirito and… She had just been more distracted than she anticipated.

Seeing that her friend was indeed repenting on her actions Lisbeth lowered her hands before releasing a heavy sigh, as if in resignation.

"So then, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company? If you're here just to tell me about your latest escapades then don't bother, I've got enough hot headed front liners reciting their magnificent feats without adding the 'Lightning flash' to the pile." Her words once again gave Asuna a pang of guilt.

At her friends reaction Lisbeth let out an exasperated sigh. She hadn't meant to come across as so sharp and defensive. It's just that she was tired, tired and exhausted. As she had said before there had been numerous people who had come to her requesting repairs, only to then spend the entire time talking about how much they had done and how important they were for the completion of the game. To be honest, she was sick of it. They all acted so high and mighty, like they commanded respect just because they were the ones on the front lines.

"Sorry," She whispered out. It wasn't fair for her to push her problems onto her friend and there was no reason for Asuna to take the brunt of it. With her mind now more settled Lisbeth once again faced her friend, though this time she showed a more welcoming expression before continuing.

"So...? What's the real reason you're here?"

"Ah, umm… hwah" The sudden change of subject along with the realization of what she was there to talk about left Asuna with a bright blush and an absent mind.

At her friends reaction Lisbeth's smile turned from a warm one to one of a hidden agenda.

"Ho, so it's like that is it?" She questioned, it was evident to her by the blush on her face and the tremble on her lips that Asuna's problem was most definitely boy related. They had spoken briefly in the past about boys, though that was mostly superficial and didn't really lead anywhere.

However, that all changed with this latest revelation. If this was indeed a boy problem as Lisbeth had predicted then she was going to have her fun. After all, Asuna had taken her time in coming to see her and as such it only felt proper to do so.

"So then, what terrible tragedy has befallen my friend that she felt the need to seek out her one true ally."

"Hugh" At her friends teasing Asuna took severe mental damage. She was aware her friend knew exactly what the problem was. Though that didn't make admitting it any easier, a fact that Lisbeth was well aware of as she pressed the attack.

"Come on, no need to be shy. After all, you took the effort to come here so the least you could do is talk to me about this per- problem."

Whether it was a well planned assault or a unfortunate slip of the tongue the result did nothing to calm Asuna's anxiety. So after closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to clear her mind she came clean with her problem.

"There's this… this g-g-guy."

At Asuna's behest her friend simply continued to show an amused expression, though this time the smile was more of knowing grin.

"And…?" Lisbeth questioned, she was enjoying this far too much.

"And he's… No I, or rather we-" Despite having a idea about what she wanted to say. Actually saying it provided more difficult.

Not being able to hold back any longer, "Pwah, ha ha" Lizbeth let her thoughts run free as she wiped at the tears forming in her eye's.

"Let me guess, you and this guy have been spending some time together. Maybe a little too much time for the average acquaintance?"

Lizbeth waited for Asuna's approving nod before continuing.

"And now you're finding you enjoy your time together, maybe you want to know more about him or maybe you want to get closer to him?"

Asuna's face lit up in a shade of red at the last part. Why did everything Lisbeth said on this matter have to lead to that conclusion? Not that she was going to deny it was the truth.

Seeing that the conversation wasn't going to reach any meaningful conclusion anytime soon. Lisbeth opted to move it along to the root of the problem.

"So what exactly happened and why do you need me again?"

With the air now clear and her confidence bolstered Asuna proceeded to give Lisbeth a rendition of the past 2 days. Starting with what had happened in the woods and leading to their talk last night. Despite being so hesitant before, Asuna found that once she begun the words and sentences formed themselves. On top of this she also found that the anxiety she previously felt dropped away the more she spoke about the incident, perhaps people were right in saying you would feel better if you talked about it.

"-and then I decided I needed advice so I came looking for you." She finished, slightly out of breath at being the only one talking for so long.

For her part Lisbeth had listened quietly, content to hear what her friend had to say and holding her opinions until she had finished. Now that she had, well she was… astounded. Was her friend really this, dense? It seemed obvious to her that she had at least some measure of like beyond friendship for the boy, though this was apparently not something she herself was aware of. With such a clear cut answer to Asuna's problem a frown formed on Lizbeth's face as her mind grew more perplexed at the person in front of her and more importantly what advice she should give her. Unfortunately, her expression only helped to further Asuna's anxiety as she once again lowered her gaze and pouted at the floor, as if doing so would in someway appease it. Not that it needed appeasing, but it helped her nonetheless.

The answer came after a long and somewhat drawn out sigh, "Why don't you just tell him?"

Asuna's face shot up, zeroing in on the person who had given her the answer. Eye's wide and mouth agape in shock, she couldn't believe that Lisbeth would actually suggest such a thing. After all she couldn't, what if he… but if he did then… no, no no no. If it was him he was more likely to…

Despite being granted a brief moment of clarity she soon found herself back in the reality that was her current situation, "Are you crazy," she began. "This is him were talking about, what if he doesn't get it or he takes it the wrong way. Where does that leave me."

"You cou-" Lisbeth tried to interject, but was stopped before she could maker her point.

"Besides it's not like I could just go up to him and say I l-l-lik-," a blush quickly crept onto her face as she began pacing around the room in an attempt to calm herself. "No, I just couldn't do that. There's no way I could be that open, not to anyone and besides that we have commitments in this world. It's down to us to help clear the game for all those that can't." Her face whipped around to stare at her friend, "so you see we just couldn't, we have other things to be worrying about and there just wouldn't be ti-."

"Isn't that just an excuse?" The question was accompanied by the cynical look of the one asking it and caused a confused expression to consume Asuna's face.

"W-what do you-" She attempted to ask but was cut off before she could finish.

"Aren't you just using the game as an excuse? It's nice to know how much you care about getting us all out of here. But that doesn't mean that the assault teams can't handle without one or two of their star members for a little while."

The truth felt like a sharp needle piercing her heart, had she really been using this game of death as an excuse? Without being given the chance to contemplate it her friend continued.

"And that's another thing, if you like the guy why not just tell him?" Once again her answer came in the form of a blush and the fumbling hands of the offender. A reaction that only served to cause Lisbeth further annoyance. For the life of her she couldn't figure out why the girl couldn't just come out and say it, if she were in her position that's what she would do.

"For crying out- just go up and kiss him then." she spoke, the annoyance evident in her voice.

"Wah, what do you- are you insane! I could never do that!" Asuna looked about ready to explode.

Having all but run out of patience at the innocents on display Lisbeth launched into a rant.

"Look," She began with a hand on her forehead at the stress of the situation. "I understand that some people find saying it out loud too difficult. I guess the only advice I can give you is actions speak louder than words and if this guy's as good as you say he is I doubt he's going to be disappointed."

"On the contrary," She continued as she took hold of Asuna's hands to help reaffirm her point. "I have a feeling that if you take the initiative you'll be pleasantly surprised." she finished and put on a warm smile in hopes that it would get across how genuine she was being.

Asuna felt a comforting warmth, not the same as what she had felt with Kirito but not any less impactful for it. Her friend had given her the best advice she could, which considering she had never been in such a situation before was at least somewhat helpful. Her friend had helped her to see the situation for what it was, rather than what she thought it was.

In light of that advice and the clarity she had been given Asuna threw her friends hands off of her before enveloping her in a hug.

"Thank you."

* * *

"Hyia!"

Kirito's elucidator came slashing diagonally down towards his foe, cuttin a clean line across the Lizard man's torso. Accompanied with the sword skill 《Downward thrust》the attack dealt enough damage to finish off the rest of the mobs HP, subsequently turning him into nothing more than a shower of shining polygons.

With the victory won Kirito's kill count rose to 11, the highest in his current party.

After catching some much needed rest and taking time to reflect on the nights events he had decided that he needed to clear his head. Perhaps having something else to focus on would allow him to better understand what both Asuna and the situation last night truly meant to him. Thankfully, Klein had been trying to get him to go hunting with his guild for a while and as it served his own purposes perfectly, he elected to join them on this occasion.

They had arrived at the ruined village that served as their hunting grounds around an hour ago and had been fighting their individual battles ever since. Having disposed of his last enemy Kirito dropped to the floor, reeling from the continued fighting. Leaning back against one of the derelict walls he took a moment to relax and take in his surroundings. The rest of Klein's group were still going at it, working to take down the highest leveled foes in pairs or groups of three. Before he even noticed Klein slid down the same wall before coming to rest in the spot next to him.

"Had you fill already?" He asked, still breathing heavily from his own battles.

"Hmm, yeah."

"Really!?" Klein shouted out unintentionally. Causing the rest of the group to turn and look at the two of them in surprise. Though with the wave of his hand to dismiss their curiosity they soon went back to clearing out the rest of the mobs from the ruined buildings.

For Klein Kirito's answer came as a surprise, as evidenced by his own reaction. While they didn't get a lot of chances to party up, on the few occasions that they did it normally ended with Klein having to pull him back into town. So for Kirito to have stopped this quickly was… new. It was clear, both because of this and with how out of it he had seemed earlier, as if he were operating on autopilot that there was something bothering him.

Of course it wasn't unheard of for players to experience mental fatigue and for their thoughts to become preoccupied. After all they were closer to death in this game then they were in real life and with no options for mental counselling the players just had to make do with it themselves. In all likelihood it may have been hat the weight of it all was starting to get to him and considering he was one of the clearers who was most at risk it seemed almost plausible.

Turning towards his friend, Klein quickly dismissed this. The look on Kirito's face was all too similar to the ones he had seen in the past and though he would never openly admit it they were similar to some he had made in the past himself. Discovering such a thing led to a small smile begging to tug at the corner of his mouth. Though he hadn't been able to do much for him as a friend in the past, after all Kirito only got to teach him the basics before circumstances meant that they would be going their separate ways. This would be his chance to return that kindness he had shown to a stranger. That and this would be his chance to get some payback for being left to fend for himself.

"So, what's she like?" He asked, confidence at his own deductions building up in his voice as the words came out.

As expected Kirito, still not being with it let out a sigh before giving his answer, "Amazing. She's just- I don't know how to describe it, but just being with her is so..." He croaked out, focusing on the sky rather than Klein's group and wondering how he was going to solve his problem.

"Amazing huh, I see." Klein closed his eyes and nodded his head in agreement for Kirito's assessment of the girl he had never met.

"She got a name then?"

If Klein was lucky maybe he knew who she was and this would be a whole lot easier. There wasn't many from the clearers that were around his age and even less who were girls. Besides he couldn't even recall a time when he had actually spoken to a girl, so who the hell got him like this? Expanding his range of candidates there was that smith he said he'd made friends with, could it be her? Nah, if that was the case he wouldn't be like this, she seemed like the type of girl to grab the guy she liked with both hands. If not her the who…

"As-" Kirito began.

"-una." To which Klein finished.

That's it! He shouted to himself internally, of course it was her. There wasn't anyone else it could be.

Fortunately or rather unfortunately as the case may be, having Asuna's name finished for him seemed to bring Kirito out of the eternal daydream that he was in.

"W-w-w-what, what are you talking about?" He stuttered out, clearly startled at the fact that they were apparently having a conversation about the girl that he, he...

"Oh, back with us now are you?"

"I don't, I mean, what?"

"What do you mean what. You've been spacing out for the last 15 minutes. You know we're meant to be levelling as a group today right?" Came Klein's response, pointing to the rest of the group as he did so.

"No- I mean yes, yes you're right. We shou-" Though he tried to justify it as a momentary lapse of concentration and moved to get up in order to resolve the issue. He was swiftly brought back down to earth as Klein grabbed the back of his coat and pulled him sit back against the wall.

"Woah there romeo where do you think you're going?"

"R-Romeo?" Kirito asked as he turned to look at the person who had prevented his escape.

"What do you mean romeo?"

"I think you know full well what I mean. Well it just so happens that you're in the presences of a guru in this particular area. For I have personally fought on the very same battlefield and come out victorious!" Klein touted, though it sounded and looked more like a victory speech after a sports game based on the fact that he had a hand pointing towards the horizon and the other resting on Kirito's shoulder.

Guru? The same battlefield? For the life of him Kirito didn't have a clue what Klein was talking about, a fact that was evidenced by the confused expression on his face.

Seeing the confusion that was consuming his friend Klein offered a answer in the absence of one.

"Girls man! I'm talking about girls!"

Thankfully for Klein it seemed that that was all it took for Kirito to understand what was going on, as a creeping look of embarrassment slowly worked its way onto his face.

Seeing this, Klein opted to continue his manly charade.

"If you're having trouble with girls I'm your man." He reiterated, only this time jabbing his free hands thumb into his chest at the same time.

"Help?" Kirito questioned, "You think I need help? I don-"

"Yes, yes you do." The straightforward nature of Klein's statement served to halt Kirito mid thought.

"Look, you've been part of the clearers since day one. I'm no psychologist but you don't seem to be affected by our situation anymore. That, or you're very good at hiding it."

Kirito's head did a slight nod, not entirely comfortable with the direct praise he was being given. Though to an extent he did agree with him, he had learnt to just focus on the moment rather than get bogged down with their situation. That wasn't to say he had become complacent with it, quite the opposite in fact. He was just acutely aware of what it was he needed to do and by focusing on that it allowed him to keep everything under wraps.

Despite his previous admittance Klein's words seemed to impact him more than he would have liked. Perhaps he had become almost robotic? Too consumed with what he needed to do to escape this world and forgetting about those around him in the process. At such a revelation Kirito gazed at the bright sky above him and produced a weary smile. Maybe it was about time that he paid more attention to his surroundings rather than the goal that was in front of him. Sighing at such a fact he closed his eyes one last time before turning towards his friend and delivering his final verdict.

"Fine, you win. If you think you can help, I'll take any advice you've got."

Though it was shot and maybe a bit dismissive it was clear to Klein that Kirito needed help. Perhaps more so than he would have liked to admit and it was something he was all too pleased with.

Having got his way Klein displayed a small smile at Kirito's response. This would be it, his chance to finally repay him for all the help he had given him at the start of the game and the kindness he had shown whenever he had a problem or something he didn't know how to fix.

Seeing this Kirito sighed one last time, more in mental fatigue than regret before beginning.

"I guess we should start from a couple of days ago."

And so deciding that if he wanted to get help and advice he would need to open up about what had happened he proceeded to give a rendition of what had transpired over the last two days. Beginning with how he had been spending an increased amount of time with Asuna leading up to her close shave with death. Before continuing on with how he had tried to comfort her and how that had resulted in their lengthy conversation where the two of them had opened up to each other.

"I see," Klein replied as he rubbed his non existent beard in thought.

From everything that Kirito said it was clear from his point of view that he was overthinking this. If he really did feel about her that way then why wouldn't he just tell her? For the life of him he couldn't imagine being this close to a girl and not making a move. Didn't he know that after you grow up the only people you'll be getting close to is your boss and that one employee who keeps shoving the work on you.

God Klein hated him. It wasn't his job to file the customer records, if he spent more time doing the job he was being employed for rather than flirting with his girlfriend and every opportunity then maybe Klein wouldn't have had to cover for him. Stupid work and stupid commitments… he continued to grumble, catching the interest of the player sitting next to him.

"Sorry," Kirito began. A slightly dejected tone in his voice. "I really shouldn't be bothering you with this."

"Ah! I didn't mean," Klein jumped in. "I was just reminded of something else and wasn't talking about you."

Thankfully for Klein, Kirito gave a slight nod of his head to reassure him that he understood he wasn't the target of his previous comment. Leading to Klein releasing a sigh of relief at dodging the proverbial bullet.

"Well, disregarding my not so great work life. You wanted advice right?" He questioned, hoping to get the conversation back on track.

"I guess, " Kirito started. Slight unease evident in his voice. "I just wanted to check- no. ask. What do you think I should do?"

Taking a moment to contemplate his answer Klein looked towards the sky as if hoping to find a solution spelt out in the clouds. Finding none he let out a sigh of exhaustion before turning back to Kirito and delivering his answer.

"Being 100% honest here…," He paused before continuing. "Just tell her…, indirectly if you have to."

To this Kirito responded with a confused expression.

"Look I'm not telling you to go confess your undying affection, just act natural around her and do the little things. If you're on the right track you'll know. Heck if that doesn't work maybe you should just go profess your undying affection, though take it from me, that doesn't really ever work out." At his own admittance of his downfall Klein released a small chuckle. It was easy to look back on and laugh at those moments now but god dammit if he didn't feel like crap after they happened.

If he was hoping that the advice he had given would be helpful, the recipient sure as heck didn't look like it. Kirito's face was going through a range of different emotions and expressions as if trying to decipher a cryptic message. Do nothing? Was he being serious? Kirito knew going into this that from the little bits of information about Klein's past relationships with girls, or rather lack thereof that he was perhaps not the best person to ask.

Then again it wasn't as if he had much of a choice. There weren't a lot of people that he was friends with, and even less people who were around his age that could give him advice on this subject. With that in mind Kirito resigned himself, he would take the advice he was given. As shallow as it was, for it was still the only answer he had.

"Ok you win, I'll try it your way. The whole doing the little things, shtick." He answered, his arms waving about as if to try and accentuate the absurdness of the whole thing.

"Ha ha," Klein's face lit up in delight. "You won't regret it!" he said as his hand patted Kirito's shoulder.

I hope I won't. Kirito thought to himself, doubt evident in his inner monologues. With his talking to finished he pushed off the wall and rose to his feet. If he was really going to go through with this plan then he needed to work off some emotional stress. Beating some mobs into nothing more than a shower of sparkles should do the trick.

"Ahh!" He screamed as his sword came down on the closest enemy to him. It was a scream filled with both energy and anxiety at the results to come.


	5. Chapter 5: Conclusions

**Well here it is, the last planned chapter of Warmth. I'm in two minds about writing a epilogue chapter but I'll wait and see what people think. Despite not having an overall plan I hope that It's been as enjoyable to read as it has been to write and hopefully some people at least found in endearing.**

 **As mentioned previously I have a long story that is still in the planning phase, though at this point the plan has become a story in and of itself. But to keep up with practicing I have another short - medium story that I have already begun working on, the first chapter of which should be posted within the next week or so.**

 **Finally I would also like to take the time to thank all those who read, followed or favorited. There are a lot of other stories in this fandom and the fact that you felt this story was good enough to spend your time reading it means a lot to me. Additionally, I would also like to extend a further thank you to everyone who took the time to post a review. It means a lot to get feedback on what I put out so again, thank you for taking the time to review and provide advice.**

 **With that said enjoy the final chapter and I hope to see many of you in the future:**

* * *

Having received advice from a close friend and released much of his pent up anxiety on the enemies of the surrounding area. Kirito was feeling prepared, yet apprehensive. Despite what he had been told he still wanted to let Asuna know how he felt about her, an emotional change that he was still coming to terms with. Keeping in line with the idea that he wouldn't do anything too grandiose or over the top he had decided that a meal would be his best bet. It was simple enough that if he felt he couldn't handle it then he could play if off as just a regular dinner that they often shared together. Though this could also serve as an opportunity for him.

Owing to some reliable information he had acquired, at a rather outrageous price might he add. He was made aware of a upcoming time appropriate event that would be the perfect time for him to make good on Klein's advice.

As evidenced by the cold the night before it was coming up to that joyous time of the year. When people would travel home to spend time with their families and children would await the day when they could open the presents they so desperately wanted. All around the world people would be in a celebratory mood and despite their situation the players stuck in SAO were no different. Over the past week the atmosphere had changed, while it wasn't obvious people seemed to be in a better mood and based on what he had heard from Argo it seemed that Christmas was indeed the cause.

Not wanting to miss out on a chance to include special events SAO was packed with a number of quests and changes specific to the time of the year. One such change was that of the town of beginnings which, according to Argo's information had been transformed into a festive wonderland. Lights of varying colors now lined the edges of buildings as decorations hung from each side of the main streets. In keeping with the theme the floor itself had been altered to take on a more white wonderland appearance as snow now coated the once green plains and cobbled streets.

As someone who didn't enjoy haphazard plans Kirito was always one who preferred to scout out the place ahead of time, and in keeping with this tradition he was now standing on the teleport gate of the first floor for that very purpose. Despite it being almost a year ago the memories of that day were still as vivid as when they happened. The despair and feelings of hopelessness still strong despite it being so long ago. Looking around the area now you wouldn't be able to guess that such an event took place.

The area was mostly devoid of people, with only a small number of NPC's roaming to help set the ambiance of the town, you would be forgiven for thinking that the floor had been abandoned given how long they had been stuck in the game. But there were still a select number of people who made the first floor their home. From children who had logged in without their parents and had no guidance, to people who simply couldn't bring themselves to get past the fear of dying and take their first steps outside the safety offered by the town. It was a place that encapsulated their situation and served as a reminder to players who had seemingly forgotten such things as they went about what had so quickly become their routine lives.

Being the town in which all players would spawn it was designed with large crowds in mind, though somehow still retained the feeling of a densely packed city. Walking along the main broadway Kirito was feeling optimistic about the day's events and based on the information he had been given from Argo there was the perfect little restaurant to suite his plans. From what he had been told it sat on the edge of an enclosed lake and unlike many didn't open until six in the evening.

Following the map that Argo had so graciously sold him for the meager price of 300 col he continued to wind his way through the backstreets and walkways that allowed for players to move through the town without using the main streets. After spending an hour following, or rather deciphering his map Kirito eventually came up on the restaurant in question.

Unlike most other buildings it sat alone with only a number of trees to keep it company and the city wall as a backdrop. Just as Argo had said the building in which the restaurant was housed sat on the edge of a small lake, two willow trees helped to enclose the area while flora and fauna grew both on the edges and utop the lake to complete the look. As if to capitalize on the calming aura produced by the area, the building also had a deck that sat slightly above the water, allowing patrons to enjoy their meal while taking in the sights and sounds on offer.

Kirito knew from the description that he had been given that this would be a good place for him and Asuna to share their meal. But even knowing what type of area this was meant to be he was still astounded. He couldn't believe that such a place existed and more so that it was on the first floor. Without even realising it a smile formed as to the possibilities for how the evening with that girl that had become so important to him could go.

Moving up to the entrance Kirito was greeted with a closed entrance as he had expected, though after going up to one of the windows rather than seeing a empty seating area there was instead a person inside. This was to say the least odd and unexpected. There shouldn't have been anyone inside at this time and on the few occasions that system businesses opened later than usual, it was setup so that the NPC's didn't spawn in until just before opening. Checking the system clock there were still 3 hours to go before it opened, so logically no one should have spawned in yet. With this in mind the only other possibility was that it was a player who had somehow found their way in. Though this also shouldn't have been possible as all buildings were a simple block asset when not open and as such didn't have an interior for players to find their way into.

Taking a closer look at the person in question they were of a short stature, perhaps around half his own height and just barely reaching above the tables. Based on the long black hair cascading down their back it was a female player. An idea that was reinforced by the white dress that they were wearing.

Moving around in an almost drunk like manner the girl seemed to be slightly out of it. As if she wasn't aware of her surroundings and confused as to how and why she had gotten there. Intrigued as to how someone could have gotten into the restaurant, considering it wasn't open. Kirito lightly knocked on the window in hopes that it would get the girls attention. And get her attention it did. Startled by the sound of an unexpected noise the girl turned towards its source and was met with the sight of Kirito's all black apparel.

It only took the girl a few moments before her face lit up in what Kirito assumed was delight before she began running past the tables and chairs towards him. Coming to a stop just inches from the window she started waving her hands about in an exaggerated manner while her mouth made a multitude of different shapes. Evidently she was trying to tell him something but as a result of how the game handled buildings he couldn't hear a word of what she was saying. Something which he indicated to the girl by shaking his head and pointing towards his ear.

Having got the message and not being pleased with the results as she took on a downcast expression the girl thought for a moment before the spark of happiness she previously had returned to her face. Apparently she had found a solution to her problem, one that involved the back of the restaurant as she ran off towards it. Feeling slightly bewildered at the events that had taken place Kirito took a step back, hoping to get a clearer picture of what was happening and some insight into who the girl might have been. Though not a minute later he was again surprised as the shutters on the windows of the building slammed shut, similar to how it would have normally looked at this time of day.

Had the inside of the building stopped existing? He questioned. If that was the case then what of the girl. Perhaps she had found a way outside and that was why the shutters had been closed. Guessing that this was indeed what had happened he started looking around the immediate area, hoping that he would find some clue as the whereabouts of the small girl. Though with the lake to it's back taking up most of the wall it was a doomed endeavour from the start. Not being able to find anything and with the light of day quickly fading Kirito decided to give up the search. Whatever the girl was trying to tell him, he _hoped_ it wasn't important.

* * *

With the evening's location scouted Kirito moved onto the next part of his plan. Ensuring that he wouldn't be attending alone. As such he opened his in game menu, navigating his way to the frankly short list of people who made up his friends list. Despite how long he had been stuck in this game he hadn't made all that many friends, through with being pegged as an outcast from practically the beginning it wasn't all that surprising. Besides, it meant that the few people he was friends with he felt closer to and as such they were more trustworthy.

With a heavy sigh his gaze turned to a player near the top of his list, not being able to spend anymore time putting it off he opened up the interaction dialog and selected to send a new message. Thankfully he found this sort of thing easier to do through a message rather than face to face and after little more than a couple of minutes he was done:

 **From: Kirito**

 **Subject: Dinner?**

 **Content:**

 **Hey, I've had a few hours sleep and feel a lot better.**

 **I was wondering if you wanted to grab a meal together? I've got some info on a really nice place down on the first floor in the town of beginnings. It's kind of out of the way so should be nice and quite, I'll meet you there around 6:00pm if you're up for it.**

It was simple and to the point but hopefully the fact that he had chosen for them to meet at the restaurant rather than at the teleport gate like they normally did would give her a hint. Even if he didn't really have the experience in such escapades he at least wanted to give it a go. If not for himself, then for the sake of his relationship with Asuna. Closing the dialog menu his previous thought gave him pause. _Relationship_. The word sounded almost foreign to him, like it wasn't something he should be getting involved with.

"A relationship, huh?" He muttered to himself. Still not entirely sold on the idea.

Then again, perhaps this was precisely what he needed. He hadn't exactly been an extremely social person before getting stuck here and after finding out about his past he had become somewhat withdrawn. Naturally this also included his friends and classmates which in turn meant that his interactions with girls had been kept to a minimum. Though maybe that wouldn't be the case for much longer…

* * *

Kirito felt like a lemon at a vegetable party, that was to say he felt ever so slightly out of place. There was one key piece of information that Argo seemed to have omitted in her rundown of the restaurant. That being that it was less a small relaxing getaway and more of a up-class dining experience. Looking into the previously empty building Kirito could see a multitude of different people, some of them players and some of them NPC's. But they all had one thing in common, they were dressed in some measure of formal attire, helping to set the atmosphere to one far more classy then he would have liked.

Despite the anxiety he felt it wasn't as if he had much of a choice at this point. Not long after sending Asuna a message he received a reply letting him know that she would be happy to go to a meal and would meet him there at 6:00pm like he had suggested. So now here he was, standing outside of said restaurant and waiting for Asuna to make her appearance. Opening the in game menu he double checked the time, 6:02pm. Two minutes over. Had she ditched him? Was she having second thoughts about their meal? Perhaps she had figured out what he was planning and decided not to show up. His mind ran rampant with thoughts of what could have been falling down around him, the evening he had planned. Being brought to its knees by an unforeseen result.

"Sorry!" Came a familiarly feminine voice.

His fears were quelled instantly, looking towards the direction of the apology Kirito was met with the site of a heaving breathing and slightly red faced Asuna. She was leaning over herself, hands atop her knees as she attempted to reconcile her breathing to a more natural pace, only looking up for a moment to meet Kirito's gaze. A awkward and somewhat apologetic smile displayed on her face. Even if the game didn't model everything perfectly, it was clear from her actions that she had not apparently not planned on missing their appointment. Choosing to run in hopes that she would be able to make it on time, a fact that caused a slight warmness to well within Kirito's heart.

"Ah," Came his eventual reaction. Slightly startled at the girl before him. "It's fine, it's fine. I just got here myself so no harm done." He continued, stretching out a hand to help pull her into a standing position.

Being told as such helped put Asuna's mind at ease, her trademark smile returning as she took hold of the hand being offered to her. Before returning a smile of her own as Kirito pointed towards the restaurant that would be their entertainment for the evening.

"So, should we head in?"

"Yep." She replied, showing a cheerful expression at the prospect of being able to spend more time with a person she had come to grow so fond of.

Walking through the open plan entrance of the restaurant the two of them were quickly overwhelmed. What had once been an empty building was now full of life as NPC's moved about to take and deliver orders, while player's ate and conversed about the day's events. As if to help set the tone of the establishment warm colored lighting filled the room as the chatter of light conversation could be heard. All in all the place gave off a much more inviting feel when inside, a fact that was welcome as neither of them had dressed up for the occasion. A decision that looked to be unanimous among many of the players present.

Scanning the area in front of them Asuna searched for an empty table. While she hadn't known of this place, and by the sounds of it neither had Kirito. It was still popular enough that at first glance they had a full house. Luckily after looking around she identified a empty table before taking her chance and pulling Kirito over towards it. A action that left him slightly bewildered as he was still coming to terms with the fact that such a place existed in Aincrad, and that he had due to some series of unfortunate circumstances not known about it sooner.

"Come on, There's a couple of free seats over there." She called out, clearly enjoying herself. Though for what reason Kirito couldn't fathom.

Deftly weaving her way through the tables Asuna pulled Kirito out of the open doors on the other end. Stepping through the exit way the both of them were greeted with a much more mellow atmosphere. What had once been an air of busy chatter and busy waiters had become quite, peaceful and almost serene. The deck on which they found themselves was shrouded in the sounds of nature and unlike inside it didn't have the same hum of conversation. In what could only have been a deliberate attempt to not detract from the naturalistic setting lighting was kept to a minimum. With only a few small lanterns placed on the fence that surrounded the deck to produce a dim backdrop.

Taking a seat either side of the tabel the two of them were given a menu by a passing waiter and informed that he would return in a couple of minutes to take their orders. A quick browse of the menu resulted in feast for the eye's, a treat for the mouth and a shock for the proverbial wallet. For a restaurant located on the first floor, and in the town of beginnings no less they sure where some hefty prices. A sentiment that was shared by the two of them as they exchanged rather worrying expressions. Being on the front lines afforded them a decent amount of Col, but not so much that they could call such high prices a regular expense. Despite how much of a hit it would be to his reserves, Kirito was the one who suggested this and even if the food wasn't worth it. _Asuna sure as hell was_. At least in his own humble opinion that was. A point he hoped to get across by slight flick of his wrist to indicate that it would be fine and that she should return to perusing the meals on offer.

Deciding that conversation broke tense atmosphere's Kirito opted to get the ball rolling.

"Sorry about this morning," he began "The past couple of days just kind of crept up on me."

Looking up from a moment Asuna seemingly dismissed his statement as she showed a happy expression and replied.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like you fell on me or anything and after what I did I'm hardly in any position to complain."

The recollection of such an incident brought a slight blush to the both of their faces, along with a warm an indescribable feeling of enjoyment.

"Ah, yeah that did happen. Still, I'm kind of at fault for that. I shouldn't have spoken for so long and I know that not everyone's into computers it's just that when I started I-"

"It's fine, It's fine!" Asuna insisted, not wanting him to feel guilty when he wasn't the one to blame. After all it was her who had fallen asleep and even if the fact that he was next to her played a part in it, she didn't want to let him know that.

Accepting her dismissal of his apology Kirito was about to ask what she had spent the day doing, but was interrupted by the arrival of the NPC who was to be their waiter for the evening. Noting down their orders the waiter thanked them before taking their menus and informing them he would return with their drinks soon.

With nothing physical to distract them they returned to their previous conversation.

"I still can't believe I didn't know about this place, I thought I'd seen all the shops, restaurants and cafes that the first floor had to offer." Asuna started, looking around the outdoor deck that they were sitting on and taking in its relaxed atmosphere. There weren't many places like this in Aincrad and she would have been remiss for not taking the chance to see it.

"Y-yeah about that." Kirito started, though his stutter had given Asuna a cause for concern as demonstrated by the tilt of her head.

In resignation of his own inadequacies Kirito admitted the truth. "I didn't actually know about this place myself. If I did I would have suggested we come here for a meal before."

"I see, I kind of guessed you didn't know about this place either. We've spent so much time together recently that you would have let it slip and it's so out of the way that I'm guessing most players don't know about it."

In response to her question Kirito gave a nod of his head.

"And I'm also guessing that this particular snippet of information came from out mutual whiskered friend."

"Is there anyone else?" Kirito questioned.

"You're right there. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't try and sell a player their name back to them if they ever forgot."

This statement gave the both of them a chuckle, their friends black market like personality giving them something to laugh about. It was something she had stuck to even before getting stuck in here, though despite having such a quirk it still made her somewhat endearing. Causing a momentary break in their conversation, the waiter who had taken their order previously returned with their drinks before once again falling back into the inside of the restaurant.

Taking a sip of their drinks they continued from before. "You know," Asuna began. "I've never really taken the time to explore what this world has to offer."

Intrigued by her statement Kirito gazed upon the girl opposite him.

"I've been through most of the fields on each floor and have a pretty good mental map for where the Inn's are on each floor. But I've never really taken the time to look at this world and see what it has to offer."

"I get that," Kirito started. "I've been all over Aincrad but never bothered to look for the little things."

Looking up at the night sky projected on the floor above, Kirito exhaled a breath of air at the realisation that to him, he had never truly been in this world. But rather that he had only been playing around in its echo and never getting to experience its inner workings.

Seeing the disappointment in Kirito's face, Asuna gave a suggestion.

"We should do that one day, just spend the day exploring one of the lower levels. I could make some lunch for us if you wanted, perhaps eat out in one of the fields where it's quite. We're stuck here so we might as well enjoy ourselves."

Kirito's face lit up at the very idea of getting to eat more of Asuna's cooking. "Yeah, that would be cool. I've always wanted to see what the outer boundaries have to offer.

"That settles it then, it's a date."

"A da-!"

"That's right, a date. Isn't that what you call it when two people choose to spend their time together? Unless you're saying you don't want to go on a date with me?"

"I didn't- I mean-" Kirito's mind was thrown into a foray of different emotions. While he had hoped to make the first move in this particular direction it seemed she had beaten him to the punch. Figuratively speaking. As such he was slightly disgruntled at being the one caught off guard, though not wanting to miss this opportunity he quickly cleared up his intentions.

"I didn't mean it like that, I'd be happy to go with you. I just wasn't expecting you to call it a da-"

Though before he had the chance to finish their waiter returned again, this time carrying their meals.

"Thank you." Asuna replied to the waiter. An amused grin on her face at the unfortunate timing of the waiter.

Sulking at being cut off during his explanation Kirito simply grumbled to himself as his own food was placed down in front of him. Did this world have something against him? If it did, he wasn't aware of it. Something which it may have been trying to fix.

"So, You were saying?" Asuna questioned while taking hold of her knife and fork.

"Forget it." Kirito sulked, "It's not important." He complained before beginning his own meal.

Shrugging her shoulders and guessing his mood would improve after he had eaten some food she proceeded to dig into her own meal.

As if on cue Kirito's mood did in fact indeed improve as she had predicted once he had eaten some of his food, allowing the two of them to make light conversation. They mainly spoke about the state of the front lines and how progress had begun to slow as the fights got harder and less people were willing to join the clearers. Fact was, despite how people were now more experienced compared to when the game first started, the enemies they were fighting had also levelled with them and where bosses were concerned it was ten fold.

Eventually the two of them finished their meals and after some more menu perusing decided on dessert. Which thankfully, came out almost instantly after they had order it. There wasn't exactly a need behind the wait time in restaurants and cafes in the game considering almost all food could be prepared instantly. But the inclusion of such a feature helped to build up a sense of immersion that was only possible through full-dive technology.

"I-I want to ask you something." Kirito began, a sentence that caught Asuna's interest as she placed another scoop of ice cream in her mouth before meeting his gaze. Only to be met with a strong look of determination that she often associated with his time on the frontlines, his eye's seemingly just looking at her and ignoring her surroundings. Despite the look that he was giving her Asuna couldn't help but tease him. After all, he looked so determined to make his speech that he would have likely given a good beating to anyone who interrupted him this time.

"You sure?" She questioned. "It didn't exactly go so well earlier, maybe you're just fated to never ask those questions." She finished before taking another spoon full of ice cream into her mouth.

Kirito's response was swift. "I'm being serious here."

Sensing that perhaps her teasing was misplace, Asuna gave a small nod before placing her spoon down and directing her full attention to him.

"Ok, you win. What did you want to ask me."

Confident that he at least now had her full attention Kirito took in a deep breath before releasing it and asking what he wanted to know.

"Right. So, we're. Kind of close wouldn't you say?"

Somewhat confused as to what he meant by the word _close_ but never the less interested in what it was he wanted to say she simply replied, " _Yes_."

"Right, right. We've known each other for a while now and alot of that time has been spent together. I… I don't know when it happened, it just sort of did. But what I'm trying to say is i've found that I really enjoy spending time with you and-and"

Full with so much that he wanted to say Kirito drew a blank on his next words. Creating the perfect opportunity for his partner to interject.

"I think I get what your trying to say," she started. Putting a hand up to stop him from interrupting her. She had something she wanted to say and didn't want to have to say it twice.

"I've had a similar thought myself, I don't know if it was a conscious change or if it was just like this from the start and I never noticed it before. But I also like our time together. Then again I might just be using our time as a way of escaping this reality." She said as she gestured at the world around them.

"But- I hope that's not the case. At least I don't think it is."

Pondering on her words for a moment Kirito spoke this own thoughts on the subject.

"I don't think either of us is using our time together as a form of escapism. Rather..." He paused, taking the time to think over his words one last time before speaking them.

"You're, special."

The words gave Asuna a wealth of emotion, all of which stemmed from Kirito all but admitting how he had felt about her. A feeling that unbeknown to him, was in fact recuperated in kind by herself as she share a similar sentiment.

"I'm not one for labels. Not that I've ever had the chance for said labels." He said, something which unbeknown to him was something that the two of them had in common.

"But I at the same time I don't want to downplay what we," he said while gesturing between the two them. "Have. So I just wanted to say that even if I'm not always making it clear and sometimes I make it seem like I don't care. I just wanted to say, I do."

His confidence having grown from his small speech Kirito reached out to take hold of Asuna's hands. They were cold from the night air and the action made her jump slightly. But the mood that the two of them had built up helped to calm her nerves as she too took hold of the hands encompassing her, feeling the warmth of the person through them.

"I love you, Asuna."

The words were short, spoken by so many others before him and in no way unique. They followed a formula for forming advanced interpersonal relationships and as such she had always assumed that they wouldn't mean much. Just a stepping stone from which to launch down a set path and words that may have given her a small flutter at best.

How wrong she was.

Whether it was the atmosphere, the person speaking them or her own emotions she couldn't tell. All she knew was, this was special. Tears began to fill her eyes. Not of sadness, but of overwhelming joy and happiness. Worried that a moment as special as this was the game playing a trick on her Asuna squeezed her hands. Hoping to keep hold of the object of her affection and affirm that they were still there.

With her trademark smile in place and watery eyes Asuna turned her gaze up from her hands, towards the person she had come to care for most in this world. The ones whose existence meant everything to her and the person who she now felt she couldn't do without. And to that person who was so crucial to her she spoke two simple yet integral words.

"Thank you." She choked out.


End file.
